


Family

by torigates



Category: Vampire Diaries (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-04
Updated: 2013-11-04
Packaged: 2017-12-31 12:23:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1031677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/torigates/pseuds/torigates
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For someone who promised him an eternity of misery, Stefan thought Damon showed up a lot out of the blue, just to hang out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Family

For someone who promised him an eternity of misery, Stefan thought Damon showed up a lot out of the blue, just to hang out.

-

Stefan did New York in the 20s, and it seemed like he couldn’t turn around at a party without bumping into Damon, two flappers on his arms, cocky grin on his faced as he asked, “Hungry, brother?”

Stefan scowled and whispered, “Damon, not _now_ ,” and Damon just laughed.

“Would you relax?” These girls are so drunk, they won’t even remember tonight, even if I wasn’t planning on compelling them.”

Stefan just shook his head. Damon poured him a glass of gin, and found them a card game to play in. Of course, the two of them hustled the entire group out of their money.

-

In the 40s, Stefan did the soldier thing. (That’s what Damon called it, ‘the soldier thing,’ like he couldn’t understand why Stefan would ever want to fight for his country. Like he hadn’t been a soldier himself eighty years ago. “That was _different_ ,” Damon said. “I was human then.” Stefan would never admit it, but sometimes he thought Damon was right. War was for mortals.)

“Do you ever snack on the dying?” Damon asked, popping up in a field hospital outside Paris.

By then, Stefan didn’t bother asking how Damon found him. “That’s disgusting,” Stefan said.

Damon grinned, and Stefan saw traces of dried blood on his chin. “It’s delicious and nutritious, Stefan.”

Stefan shook his head.

Damon rolled his eyes and dragged Stefan to his feet. “I’m taking you out on the town,” he said.

“The town is under siege!”

“You need to relax,” Damon told him. “We are creatures of the night, we can go where we please.”

They ended up drinking with Nazis, which is something they both tactically agreed to keep just between them.

“We take this one to the grave,” Damon said, and then laughed at his own pun.

-

In the 70s Stefan went to Harvard and Damon would show up randomly at his water polo games, cheering him on. Stefan never knew when he’d be there and when he wouldn’t. His brother would show up unannounced, and Stefan would hear, “Let’s go, Stef!” from the crowds.

Then he’d drag Stefan to a party he heard about and the two of them would end up getting high together.

“You’re so much more fun when you’re high!” Damon shouted.

“You have a lot of eyebrow,” Stefan told him, bending over laughing.

Damon scowled, then grinned.

-

Stefan’s pretty sure Damon called him in the 90s exclusively to make fun of his grunge clothing (though that one, in retrospect, he can’t blame Damon for).

-

Of course, there were plenty of other times when Damon showed up and killed a bunch of people and left the mess for Stefan to clean up, or came and outed Stefan in his current life, forcing him to leave town in the middle of the night with only the clothes on his back.

Stefan had a lot of guilt. He has a lot of blood and deaths on his hands, including his brother’s, but sometimes he thought they weren’t that different from most families. They were vampires, which came with its own set of problems and obstacles, but they hated and loved each other more than anyone else.

An eternity of misery? Stefan was pretty sure that was what family meant. 


End file.
